The First Word: Certitude (UPDATE)

On this day — ‘The First Word’ makes a naked grab for page views by using the word ‘Certitude;’ the race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison gets a shake-up with a national flavor; hot, hot committee action gets the ball rolling on key budget bills; and more on redistricting.

Committee hearings examining the complex proposed compromise between House and Senate Republicans on school finance got underway Thursday. The compromise didn’t go through the committee process before the House initially passed it (and then Sen. Wendy Davis filibustered it) in the regular session. Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News reporter Gary Scharrer brings you the highlights from a day of hearings.

GOP leaders said it would be impossible to get the two-thirds legislative vote needed to spend more from the $6.4 billion in uncommitted rainy day funds, even though a former lawmaker who helped create it in the 1980s testified that it was meant specifically to ensure public education funding did not get cut during hard times.

“The original intent of the rainy day fund was to deal precisely with the circumstances that we are in right now,” Paul Colbert, a former Houston legislator and public education committee chairman, told the House Appropriations Committee.

Colbert said the savings account never was intended to be used to deal with natural disasters – for which Gov. Rick Perry has insisted it be saved.

“It was intended specifically to make sure that we would not make cuts to public education,” Colbert said.

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***Senate Race Shakeup

There were a couple of key developments in the still embryonic battle between Republicans for the GOP nomination to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Thursday. First, The Texas Tribune reported that former Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams is considering leaving the Senate race to run for a new Congressional seat that’s expected to be created in the Metroplex.

Second, former Texas Solicitor General and conservative darling Ted Cruz gained a key national endorsements from Dick Armey’s ‘FreedomWorks,’ influential conservative blog Red State, and the Club for Growth. Club for Growth president Chris Chocola explained why his group had announced their endorsement at this early state in the primary race (Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Dan Patrick still haven’t declared) to The Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith.

“The earlier we endorse, the more money we can raise for a candidate,” Club for Growth President Chris Chocola, a former two-term Republican congressman from Indiana, told the Tribune Thursday afternoon. “This is going to be a big, expensive race. The sooner we engage our members, the more support we can generate for Ted Cruz.”

Cruz, Chocola said, “will be a champion of our issues. Some people are good votes, and some people are good leaders. We’re convinced he’ll be a leader in the vein of Mike Lee of Utah [a Tea Party favorite and freshman U.S. Senator who defeated incumbent Republican Robert Bennett in the GOP primary in March 2010]. He’s committed to pro-growth issues. When we find someone like him, we move quickly.”

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Below the fold — John Branch on Perry’s insistence he’s not thinking about running for President right now, in ‘The Clips’ R.G. Ratcliffe offers details on some of the behind the scene machinations in the Senate Democratic Caucus and Jay Root has the latest from the redistricting hearing today.

But the wrangling was not over. The following morning, the last of the regular session, there was an effort to revive the bill with a four-fifths procedural vote, which would have required six Democrats to cross over at least for the procedural vote. The Democratic caucus had a discussion that focused on “What next?” Davis arrived late and made an emotional appeal for her colleagues to back her up. The caucus voted seven to five to support Davis unless a reasonable compromise could be reached with Republicans.

The remainder of the day was tense. Royce West summoned education lobbyists and leaders to his Capitol office to hear their thoughts on having a special session. The Texas Classroom Teachers Association did not think a better deal was possible. The Texas Association of School Administrators was ambivalent. The Texas AFT was ready for a Wisconsin-style throw-down with the Republican legislature. The Texas State Teachers Association leadership told him there did not appear to be anything to be gained by a special session and Democrats should only force one if they realistically thought they could get more money for schools.

West and Democratic senators Carlos Uresti of San Antonio and John Whitmire of Houston then started a series of meetings with Republican senators Robert Duncan of Lubbock and Kevin Eltife of Tyler, along with Perry’s legislative liaison, Ken Armbrister. The Democrats wanted a way to save face: A little more money for education, perhaps, or an agreement on the windstorm insurance conflict and a promise that Perry would not add sanctuary cities to any special session call. But Representative John Smithee of Amarillo was not budging on the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association bill; the House was refusing to put more money into education; and Perry wouldn’t show his hand on sanctuary cities. Finally, at 4 p.m. on Monday, David Dewhurst was informed that negotiations were over. There was no deal. A special session could not be avoided.

UPDATE: The Texas Association of School Administrators’ spokeswoman says the group wasn’t involved in the meeting. This has been corrected on BurkaBlog.

- Today’s Quote of the Day: “I think it’s time, the numbers are there, they cry out, they cry out, they cry out,” said Rep. Roberto Alonzo, during the redistricting hearing yesterday.